The year is 2021, the first season of “Squid Game” — a South Korean action-thriller show — had been released in the fall to much fanfare. The show — other than being a sharp critique of economic disparity and predatory capitalism — was a gold mine for internet culture and memes.
The children’s game featured at the beginning of the first season, “Red Light, Green Light,” along with many other twists that the show had to offer, became a template for many TikTok trends and edits more than three and a half years ago.
The creator of “Squid Game”, Hwang Dong-hyuk, originally intended for the first season of “Squid Game” to be the only season. However, due to increasing pressure from fans, the media and Netflix, Hwang eventually wrote, directed and produced a second season that was released the day after Christmas on Dec. 26, 2024.
The second season of “Squid Game,” aptly titled “Squid Game 2,” splashed onto the internet’s culture radar immediately upon release. There were new characters, old characters, new twists, surprises and most importantly… new games.
“Six Legs” and “Mingle” were new games added to the season — and quickly became TikTok viral. This, along with a popular knock-off Roblox game titled, “Shrimp Game,” cemented the second season of “Squid Game” as a global cultural-juggernaut.
With the third season slated for release later this year, “Squid Game” seems like an unstoppable force. Both being critically and culturally acclaimed, “Squid Game” quite literally has no reason not to pump out a third and final season and finish the story.
Will Hwang deliver all that is promised for the last season? Will all the plot lines be tied up nicely? Will Gi-hun exact revenge on the Front Man? How will this all end, exactly?
I do not have any theories or hunches that are not just borderline speculation, at this point. Rather than do that, I will briefly talk about what made the season special and what disappointed.
Personally, I absolutely adored the first season of “Squid Game,” I thought it was a super tight and succinct criticism of capitalism’s predatory nature towards the poor, and how we choose to divide ourselves, rather than directly confront our oppressors. It was paced beautifully, the drama was there to push the characters to unspeakable places and overall was a really smart pick-up by Netflix to give Hwang a chance to further his artistic vision.
The second season, while having an interesting first two episodes, really starts to fall behind and stagnate. The same plot and story beats are hit, and in the last episode (no spoilers) it turns into all action, no plot. The pacing was lost and so was the story’s message.
While the culture that is coming out of “Squid Game 2” is exquisite — the memes, trends, games, edits, etc., are all excellent — the story suffered from a rushed production and high expectations. Like Gi-Hun says in the show, “I’ve played these games before!” A very precise description of my feelings while watching — and even talking about — “Squid Game 2.”
The final, highly-anticipated piece of the puzzle is coming, and in my opinion season three should have a lot to offer to fans of the show. Besides enjoying the memes, trends and cultural moments coming from the South Korean series, we can only wait.
